The role of gender, psychotype and language in motivation to read books among USA and Japanese students: Increasing motivation through 3D visualization and animation

Abstract

The research evaluates the role of gender, psychotype, and foreign language proficiency in the motivation of students from the United States and Japan to read books. This study pertains to university students pursuing language translation as a professional orientation. The article employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis through surveys and assessments, a pre-post study, and qualitative intervention using 3D visualization and animation with Autodesk Maya software. The scholars used the Adult Motivation for Reading Scale (AMRS), the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS), and the Assessment of Foreign Language Proficiency (AFLP) task sheet. Japanese students are more motivated to read books in a foreign language than American students, and, females from both Japan and the United States are more motivated to read books in a foreign language than males. The Keirsey approach to the psychotype helped the scholars reveal that the motivation to read foreign books was more developed in the Rationals psychotype of the two countries, and the least developed among Idealists psychotype in Japan and Artisans psychotype in the United States. The correlation matrix proved a strong positive result in the AMRS subscale factors and foreign language proficiency scores (r = 0.82 and r = 0.84 at p < 0.05) for students from the United States and Japan. A three-month intervention using the integration of 3D visualization and animation of Autodesk Maya found a positive impact on the motivation to read literature in a foreign language among students in both the US and Japan. The research promotes the scientific discussion of the different approaches used to investigate the role of gender, psychotype, and language knowledge in students' motivation to read books in a foreign language using 3D visualization and animation.